Dr. Jeoung-Ah Kim

**High fired paper composite porcelain, based on recycled paper

These are her works from the result of the research in her Ph. D’s thesis.

Dr. Kim has been researching the sustainable materials of clay.

“The production of eco-ceramic design objects based on sustainable materials may lead them to assume a unique position on the world market. In spite of this, clay-based ceramics is a one of the longest used and most traditional of all the materials we u se nowadays. Because of its long history, people’s reluctance to use sustainable materials in ceramic products, i.e., those made from recycled materials or process by-products, may not easily be changed. This means that it is important to understand how such products are viewed by the public, not only for the creative part of the design, but also for the future design markets. The study is based on investigate the public’s attitudes and aesthetic experiences about eco-ceramic design used prototypes produced with sustainable ceramic materials.”

There are some statistics about using sustainable or recycled materials.

“In the results of this study indicate that 90% of the ceramic artists who participated in the investigation had another job alongside their work as ceramic artists. The artists have from 2 – 2 2 years’ experience in the practice of ceramic art. 90% of t hem have used some type of sustainable or recycled materials in their artistic practices, however only 10% of the artists used those materials regularly. 70% of the artists mix the materials with either stoneware or porcelain clay them selves. 80% have worked with paper clay and 90% mix the paper clay themselves. 50% use paper clay or sustainable materials when they making sculptures and 10% use it for making large plates, reliefs, large tiles, etc. Although 53% of the artists were either very satisfied or satisfied with paper clay (material quality, technical functions, working and forming process, and aesthetics, e. g., shape, colour, texture), 90% of the artists said that they had problems with the texture or colour of paper clay, difficulties working with the high amount of paper, or difficulties in making the surface smooth. 60% of the artists want to use sustainable materials in the future and wish for stronger as well as lighter weigh t materials. Th e result showed that much of the previous research on paper clay or sustainable materials were not well applied or distributed in their artistic practices.”